Financial acumen is key to staying market relevant

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Thinking about your personal development plan for 2024? Add a goal around developing our financial acumen.

For women aspiring for leadership roles, developing financial and business acumen early in (and throughout) your career is crucial. This may seem obvious, yet it is advice that women may not receive early in their career to help them navigate choices and create opportunities to pursue roles and projects to learn this important capability. More often, women opt in for development programs on topics around leading teams, developing leadership style, and boosting “confidence” as a leader.

Like with other gender gaps, women are not getting the exposure or career advice to build capabilities and experience in this area. According to a study by Women Business Collaborative and leadership consulting firm Development Dimensions International, of 1,700 companies and 15,000 leaders worldwide, 42% of women leaders had managed a profit and loss (P&L) function, compared to 51% of male leaders. The gap between genders happens at the early executive leader level, with 81% of executive men having led P&L at this level, versus 63% of women.[i] 

Here are 5 tips to invest in developing your financial and business skills:

1. Build skills in analyzing finances, forecasting, and modeling. Take finance courses and training to understand P&L mechanics.

2. Align your work to key business goals and metrics. Understand how your work connects to business strategy and impacts the bottom line. Remain curious. Continuously learn, ask questions, and expand your knowledge.

3. Seek P&L roles and stretch assignments that expand your budget ownership and financial exposure.

4. Understand the key drivers of growth in the business and levers to manage risks.

5. Find mentors skilled in finance to demystify P&L responsibility. Shadow peers who hold P&L roles to gain exposure.

Leadership emerges at all levels when people apply their business, strategic, and financial knowledge to guide the organization forward. Developing strategic, financial, and business acumen - not just technical skills - enables senior leadership readiness and helps you to stay market relevant.

Photo: AbsolutVision | Pixabay

[i] Women Business Collaborative (WBC) and Development Dimensions International (DDI). P&L Responsibility: Why women don’t get to the C-suite. 18 November 2020.